Video: Mental Health & Psychopathology: Definition & Dimensions

In this lesson, we will explore some of the basic ways that we differentiate between mental health and psychopathology. Included in this is looking at social, behavioral, thought, and emotional processes.

Devin has taught psychology and has a master's degree in clinical forensic psychology. He is working on his PhD.

In this lesson, we will explore some of the basic ways that we differentiate between mental health and psychopathology. Included in this is looking at social, behavioral, thought, and emotional processes.

Mental Health and Psychopathology Defined

Mental health is a positive mental status, with an individual capable of coping with normal life stressors as well as the ability to work productively. Psychopathology is a study of mental and social disorders and also a synonym for mental illness. 'Break it down,' says the rapper. 'Psycho' translates to 'mind,' 'pathos' means 'illness or disease,' and '-ology' means 'to study.' We add in the social because many mental illnesses have a direct social effect, and in fact that is the reason many people get diagnosed. When we talk about mental health, it is usually in a negative context, when an individual has lost their mental health due to some unusual stressor, like their house being destroyed by a tornado or Godzilla, or they are afflicted by some form of psychopathology. The thing is, people with mental diseases don't have a particular look or appearance to them.

If psychopathology does not have a look, and it does not always have a measurable and biological component, like cancer or tuberculosis, how do mental health professionals diagnose it? After looking at the key dimensions for diagnosis, we will look into why ethnicity and aging are important to the diagnostic process.

Key Dimensions of Diagnosis

There are four main components to diagnosing mental illness, or psychopathology. While we can discuss each one separately, it is worth noting that these differentiations are somewhat artificial. Social issues are influenced by behaviors, behaviors are influenced by thoughts and emotions. Emotional issues color social situations. It's kind of a Venn diagram except there is a massively overlapped area or a tangled-up ball of Christmas lights that will never get untangled.

When it comes to psychopathology, one of the most important in my opinion is the social dimension, which deals with interpersonal or public interactions with other individuals. If you live in a sufficiently sized city, you will undoubtedly have come across people who are talking to themselves. If you have been to certain hospitals or other places, you will likely have seen people who appear to be in a coma but without a medical reason. One of the key elements to diagnosis is if there is interference with normal social interactions. People who talk to the voices in their head make others uncomfortable, and people who don't interact with others at all frighten people.

Overlapping the social dimension is the behavioral dimension, which is any action taken by the individual. This is a fairly widespread dimension, covering everything from how one dresses themselves to feeding themselves to how they socially interact with others. The reason I have placed the social dimension first is that when people are being weird in social contexts, then there is an increased likelihood the men in white coats will be called out. Behaviors typically include being erratic or excessively hyper, being inactive to the point of not taking care of basic hygiene, interacting with hallucinations, and many more things. Every diagnosis, and there are over 100, have different behavioral components to each. Some overlap, with things like bipolar disease and schizophrenia having some behaviors in common, while others are unique and a little bizarre, like individuals with autism unable to make eye contact.

The last two dimensions we will roll into one large one. The thought and emotions dimensions deal with the internal landscape and reactions of an individual. Mental illness really boils down to there being some kind of regulation problem with thoughts and emotions, which is translated into behaviors and social interactions. People who think differently, drastically differently, can have difficulties with social issues, and they will likely behave differently as well. For example, an individual who claims the world is really made of pudding and will argue with others vehemently about it is experiencing thought disturbances. When it comes to emotional disturbances, it is estimated that nearly everyone will go through some depression in their life. It is sometimes referred to as the common cold of our times. Other emotional issues include excessive rage, inappropriate responses (such as laughing when others cry or not having any emotions) and highly variable emotions (such as flipping back and forth between love and hate for a single person).

Additional Factors

We have discussed how social, behavioral, thoughts, and emotions all come together to result in a diagnosis. Two factors that a good psychologist will consider are ethnicity and age. When it comes to ethnicity, we have to remember what is and is not culturally appropriate. In some cultures, it may be perfectly normal for families to teach their children to slaughter farm animals. However, in a more industrialized place, forcing children to kill animals might earn a family a visit from Child Protective Services.

To use a more concrete example, many people suffer from depression, which is an intense sadness and hopelessness about the future. In many cultures, this is represented by intense feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a general malaise or sleep problem. However, when it comes to Asian cultures, there is something about the culture which causes depression to be reported and felt as somatic complaints, including weariness, tightness of the chest, fatigue, and other body issues. It would seem that these cultures have influenced the expression of depression to be more somatic rather than cognitive.

When it comes to the aging, there are two sides to this. On one hand, certain disorders cannot be diagnosed until a critical age is reached. A proper diagnosis of ADHD requires symptoms before the age of 3 but cannot be diagnosed until after the age of 7. Personality disorders cannot be diagnosed until after the age of 18. The other side of this is that the aging process can bring out other disorders. Issues like Alzheimer's disease and dementia are extremely uncommon in the young but increase in likelihood as we age. There is also the issue of mental and physical decline and how this affects treatment of diagnoses. Individuals who are physically declining may not have the ability or the interest in working on mental health issues.

Lesson Summary

Mental health is a positive mental status, with an individual capable of coping with normal life stressors as well as the ability to work productively. Psychopathology is a study of mental and social disorders. When it comes to diagnosing an individual, there are four key factors. The first is the social dimension, which deals with interpersonal or public interactions with other individuals. There is also the behavioral dimension, which is any action taken by the individual. The last two dimensions we will roll into one larger one, with those being thought and emotions dimensions, which deal with the internal landscape and reactions of an individual.

Additional factors a psychologist must consider when looking at psychopathology are age and ethnicity. With age, certain disorders can only be diagnosed after a certain age, like personality disorders after 18. When it comes to ethnicity and culture, we must look to see how that culture both expresses mental illness as well as consider what is normal for that culture.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this lesson, you should be able to:

Define mental health and psychopathology

Describe four key factors relating to the diagnosis of psychopathology

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